“I rarely dish out compliments,” she wrote in the MailOnline. “But I want to shout out how I feel about this wonderful woman. We’re an unlikely couple of pals, and most people would describe us as polar opposites, but I regard Coleen as a true friend.

“Why am I dishing out this out-of-character big dollop of praise? I can’t sit by and not react to the loathsome accusations that Coleen is a heartless b**** and a mean-minded bully… all the result of a few chaotic minutes of live television - an interview with reality star Kim Woodburn that rapidly spun out of control.”

I am proud to have Coleen Nolan as a friend- read my column on mailonline. We're seeing a shameful witch hunt xx

She continued: “What followed [the interview] on social media was truly insane, and didn’t reflect (in my opinion) what actually happened. Coleen has been accused of being a bully, of gloating (and worse).

“She’s received death threats and has been trolled by small-minded idiots who say they hope she dies of cancer like her sister Bernie…

“The effect on Coleen has been devastating - a day afterwards, she texted me to say she’d been crying non-stop. Yesterday she appeared on ITV’s This Morning, still barely able to talk through the tears.”

Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock
﻿Coleen gave an emotional interview on 'This Morning' earlier this week

Janet concluded: “To put the record straight, Coleen Nolan is not a bully - and neither am I. I’m proud she’s my friend, and shame on those people who want to hurt her.”

Coleen first spoke about the abuse she’d received online in an interview with Metro, telling them: “What upset me were the trolls afterwards who said I had bullied her. It was really unfair for people to troll us and blame us.

“The whole experience was horrible and I couldn’t stop shaking… we were all incredible stunned. Linda Robson was shaking for the rest of the day and Janet Street-Porter was horrified.”